A flood of pictures : The formation of a picture culture in the United States / Michael Leja.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leja, Michael, 1951- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States.

Pictures--Social aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Pictures.

Pictures as information resources--United States--History--19th century.

Pictures as information resources.

Visual communication--United States--History--19th century.

Visual communication.

Pictures--Printing--United States--History--19th century.

Photography--United States--History--19th century.

Photography.

Genre:

Informational works.

Physical Description:

vi, 394 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2025]

Summary:

"When and how did pictures permeate everyday lives in the United States? What happened to those daily lives when they did? And what happened to pictures in the process? This book traces the beginnings of a transformation in cultural life in the US: when widespread circulation of pictures reshaped a culture accustomed to printed and spoken words. In the three decades before the Civil War, the ordinary experiences of a large segment of the population came to include pictures of many kinds, including illustrations in books, pamphlets, and newspapers; photographs on cards; full-sheet printed pictures collected in scrapbooks or albums or hung on walls; posters and broadsheets; spectacular paintings displayed in theatrical venues; and more. Pictures supplemented verbal texts--and in some cases overshadowed them--for conveying news and information; portraying people, places, and events; focusing public discourse; selling things; educating and instructing; generating excitement and aesthetic gratification; promoting and disguising political agendas; shaping social identities; and building and undermining social bonds. This study recovers a time before successful pictorial formulas for mass appeal were established, before an audience habituated to consumption of pictures existed, and before pictures had become thoroughly commodified. The foundations for our picture-saturated twenty-first century can be seen in the developments explored in this book"--Publisher's description.

"When and how did pictures permeate everyday lives in the United States? What happened to those daily lives when they did? And what happened to pictures in the process? This book traces the beginnings of a transformation in cultural life in the US: when widespread circulation of pictures reshaped a culture accustomed to printed and spoken words. In the three decades before the Civil War, the ordinary experiences of a large segment of the population came to include pictures of many kinds, including illustrations in books, pamphlets, and newspapers; photographs on cards; full-sheet printed pictures collected in scrapbooks or albums or hung on walls; posters and broadsheets; spectacular paintings displayed in theatrical venues; and more. Pictures supplemented verbal texts--and in some cases overshadowed them--for conveying news and information; portraying people, places, and events; focusing public discourse; selling things; educating and instructing; generating excitement and aesthetic gratification; promoting and disguising political agendas; shaping social identities; and building and undermining social bonds. This study recovers a time before successful pictorial formulas for mass appeal were established, before an audience habituated to consumption of pictures existed, and before pictures had become thoroughly commodified. The foundations for our picture-saturated twenty-first century can be seen in the developments explored in this book"-- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Picturing news

Almanacs and the Image Campaign of 1840

Illuminating a Bible for the masses

Fortified political portraits

Jenny Lind and early celebrity portraits

Mass-marketing photography : the Langenheim Brothers' Niagara Falls tours

An Illustrated Weekly for the United States: Gleason's Pictorial.

An Illustrated Weekly for the United States : Gleason's Pictorial.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Gemmill fund bookplate.

HSP Credit Line: P.S. Duval Lithography trade card, 1843, chromolithograph. Albert Newsam print collection (v100. Box 10, fol. 3, DAMS 12518

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781512826807

1512826804

9781512824872

1512824879

OCLC:

1454849488

Publisher Number:

CIPO000233633